Original articles

Video analysis of trunk and knee motion during non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injury in female athletes: lateral trunk and knee abduction motion are combined components of the injury mechanism

T E Hewett¹, J S Torg², B P Boden³

¹ Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
² University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
³ The Orthopaedic Center, Rockville, Maryland, USA

T E Hewett, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, USA; tim.hewett{at}cchmc.org

Background: The combined positioning of the trunk and knee in the coronal and sagittal planes during non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury has not been previously reported.

Hypothesis: During ACL injury female athletes demonstrate greater lateral trunk and knee abduction angles than ACL-injured male athletes and uninjured female athletes.

Design: Cross-section control-cohort design.

Methods: Analyses of still captures from 23 coronal (10 female and 7 male ACL-injured players and 6 female controls) or 28 sagittal plane videos performing similar landing and cutting tasks. Significance was set at p0.05.

Results: Lateral trunk and knee abduction angles were higher in female compared to male athletes during ACL injury (p0.05) and trended toward being greater than female controls (p = 0.16, 0.13, respectively). Female ACL-injured athletes showed less forward trunk lean than female controls (mean (SD) initial contact (IC): 1.6 (9.3)° vs 14.0 (7.3)°, p0.01).

Conclusion: Female athletes landed with greater lateral trunk motion and knee abduction during ACL injury than did male athletes or control females during similar landing and cutting tasks.

Clinical relevance: Lateral trunk and knee abduction motion are important components of the ACL injury mechanism in female athletes as observed from video evidence of ACL injury.

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Khan, K M (2009). Mid-year review: physical inactivity universally accepted as the biggest public health problem of the 21st century, shoulder exam challenges, and progress against the scourges of anterior knee pain and ACL injuries. Br. J. Sports. Med. 43: 469-470 [Full Text]  
• Khan, K. M (2009). New video evidence links trunk and knee motion in non-contact ACL injury. Br. J. Sports. Med. 43: 391-391 [Full Text]